Oh my...I was never musical per se, but always from a young period hung
withmusicians and did some techical work...really I loaded and plugged
inequipment even in junior high through this perid. Shit I could just say
with some legitamacy "I'm with the band" from junior high through again this
period....It , well did me well...
Regardless Dr. Ross was an icon of young white and black artist in this
area. Now again I'm living proof that all blind folks cannot sing a lick or
is it just this blind guy? Smile...
Really Dr. Ross was a treasure and though I had no musical talent he and
some of his pals at my expense of course took a trip with some hard licker
in a Buick Rivera to party in Chicago and we went to here and visit Muddy
Waters and some other blues legends whom I can't remember.
Damn I always tried to get the goodly Doctor to smoke more weed and to drink
less whiskey.
Grin...But he did the reverse philosophy on me.
It's kind of funny today, but I was the sort of token, cute (if I do say so
myself) and non-talented white boy myself in that mix.
There were many times when I was the only white face in the crowd in those
excursions. It taught me a whole lot and not just about music.
It taught me about not only tolerance, which is a most nuanced term. It
taught me how to be a human being while being a so-called minority if you
catch my drift here.
Dr. Ross was a black, working class sort of "good ole boy"...Grin....
I loved that guy and thanks for the update as we got disconnected about 1975
or so and I settled down some and all that and moved on to houston and then
New Hampshire for two decades or so.
Oh, I ramble. But again thanks Carl.
Whis I had the warm glow of some Jim Beams to salute Dr. Ross.
Got some budwieser, a poor substitute.
I'm kind of sad tonight as I buried my Godmother and revisited many from my
youth at St. Mary's during the funeral and after.
Guess I'm giving to nostaglia...And there was the goodly Doctor a
classicboogie man. In fact he never called me Joe. He always called me his
little white boogie man.
Proberly not politically correct nowadays.
But, in 71 and 72 it was a "term of endearment"....Damned though if I cannot
remember his favorred whiskey. It wasn't Crown Royal...Hmm...Just can't
remember...Wonder why? Grin.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2016 9:22 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: blast from my ancient past
Joe,
From my old, old days wandering around the old second hand record
shops in Seattle, I picked up a couple of not too scratchy records by
Dr. Ross. Hmm...I suspect my first wife dumped them after we split
up.
Carl Jarvis
*****
In 1951 Ross's records began to get airplay in Mississippi and
Arkansas.
He recorded with
Chess Records
and Sun with a group that included folk instruments, such as the
washboard
.
[2]
In 1954 Ross moved to the Detroit area and began working for
General Motors.
[2]
He recorded some singles with
Fortune Records,
including "Cat Squirrel" and "Industrial Boogie". He recorded an album
issued by
Testament Records
and toured with the
American Folk Blues Festival
in Europe in 1965.
[2]
He recorded an album for
Blue Horizon Records
while he was in London and worked with
Ornament Records
in Germany in 1972.
[3]
Ross and his music were popular in Europe, more so than in his home
country.
[2]
Ross won a
Grammy
for his 1981
album
Rare Blues and subsequently enjoyed a resurgence of popularity and
critical acclaim towards the end of his career.
He died in 1993, at the age of 67, and was buried in
Flint, Michigan.
On 11/18/16, joe harcz Comcast <joeharcz@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Oh my. I was cruising through some olden day files ain "mydocuments" for
other purposes and came accross the entry after my signature line, It was
from some heady days just after my graduation from High School and when I
moved in to Flint and lived with some Black Panthers and engaged in radical
things of the time on the East Side of Flint. I also was on the local
community college student government which was a hot bed of radicalism back
then and was a reportor with the "Freedom Reader" mentioned here. I also was
one of the organizers of this event which sought free medicine for all. A
bit player for sure but an event organizer of this blast from the past.
And here all these many years later we are still fighting for universal
healthcare, and I'm still fighting for at very least a single payer
system...Sigh...BTW that year I was also associated with John Sinclair and
the Ann Arbor Sun, several anti-war groups, and was a McGovern delegate all
the way to the state convention.
I also helped to bring the likes of Angela Davis, John Sinclair, Maceo
Dixon (of the Socialist Workers Party), and William Kunstler to the campus
as speakers. Oh and Andrew Young, and Julian Bond too.
OH and I and some pals got the Doctor Ross mentioned here to play for the
benefit. He was a sort of blues guru in these parts. A rather talented, but
sadly total alcoholic blues master. We scraped up fifty bucks (which was a
lot for those days) and a fifth of some rotgot whiskey to pay him. He played
acoustic guitar with a harp on a three legged stool. He was so drunk when he
came on three of us, including me had to help him on the stool. He kept
getting started with his performance and then kept falling off the stool.
Finally we kept picking him up and tthen I stood behind him with my hand on
his back for gentle support. It took him a while to get going. But, then
there was "magic" and he rocked on for well more than an hour without
assistance.
And there was, of course lots of sex, drugs and rock and roll going on then
too which is probably why I didn't get my degree for a while.
The revolution got dashed that year imo, or at least for awhile.
The McGovern thumping reminds me of the election of today. But, rememember
it was followed by watergate. And seeds of watergate abound today.
But I digress. This is a bit hard to read but is the best I can get from the
digital archives of the Ann Arbor Sun from the Ann Arbor Library:
Mark Farner Sings For Free Health! | Freeing John Sinclair
Jump to Navigation
List of 3 items
• RETURN TO AADL.ORG >>
• Search The Site
• Log In
list end
Home
Home
»
Mark Farner Sings For Free Health!
Ann Arbor Sun, February 18, 1972
Images:
Mark Farner Sings For Free Health!
View Uncorrected Scanned Text:
Mark Farner, lead singer and guitanst in Grand Funk Railroad, made a
surprise appearance on February 4th in Flint at a benefit for a Free Medical
Clinic
that some brothers and sisters are trying to set up. Mark took the stage by
himself and sang a tune, accompanying himself on accoustis. The tune is
called,
"Flint, You're Making Me Sick" and is directed at the choking pollution that
greets you on a visit to the city. The benefit was organized by the same
people
who put out the killer Flint paper, the Freedom Reader, which was started
with some help from Mark, who also serves on its editorial board. Also
appearing
at the rally were Big Red and the Sherm Mitchell Quartet, both from Flint,
and Doctor Ross, and old time Flint bluesman who really boogies. The Up
were
scheduled to play, but their eqüipment truck broke down on the way up, so
they couldn't. Speakers included John Sinclair, members of the Vietnam
Vets,
and Ann Berrigan, daughter of the mprisoned Reverend Daniel Berrigan.
Ballenger Field House was packed, so the benefit produced over %1500 which
can now
go to provide free medical care for people who need t. It's great to see
other communities setting up the kind of people's institutions which Ann
Arbor
has been developing recently; as the Freedom Reader put it "With the cost of
medical expenses getting higher all the time, people just can't afford to
take care of their health. All the money this government spends on war and
it doesn't even provide for the people. It is obvious that the people who
run
this government do not care for its' citizens, so we have to care for
ourselves." Brother Mark, who's newest album, E Pluribus Funk, is definitely
worth
checking out, is beginning to put his tremendous economie and political
power in the service of the people. The more our bands do that, the more of
our
needs we'll be albe to take care of, and the more we'll be about to make our
communities the kind of, places we all dream about. BUILD THE RAINBOW
NATION
?
Michigan-boogie
Ann Arbor Sun, February 18, 1972 ?
Wcbn On The Air ?
List of 1 items
• Login
or
register
to post comments
list end
List of 8 items
Interviews
• Essays
• Ann Arbor Sun
• Photos
• Recordings
• Documents
• Search
Contact Us
list end
Ann Arbor District Library, 2012. All content
CC-by-NC
unless otherwise specified.
Terms of Use |
Privacy Policy
